On:
In: Michael Hance

After the UK election, establishment commentators like Andrew Marr were talking about ten years of Starmer government. Content with the apparent resumption of normal service, they have dispensed with whatever critical faculties they once had.  Starmer was elected on the flimsiest of prospectuses. Barely a fifth of the population of England voted Labour and the party offered little more than a one word slogan as its programme for government. And since Rachel Reeves has outlined her spending plans, we’ve discovered that the change they’re going to deliver is change for the worse, especially if you’re a pensioner living in Scotland.  The real problem for LabourRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

That’s all it took for them to turn their backs on the voters. Just the start of breaking all the ‘promises’ made during the election. Last week we had every Scottish Labour MP vote against reversing the 2 child tax policy brought in by the Tories. Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie have not been seen since. They campaigned heavily on this issue. The Labour MPs who did vote to reverse it have been suspended from the party. Has Starmer just given Jeremy Corbyn supporters? This week, the Chancellor has just taken the winter heating allowance away from all pensioners not on top up credits. AtRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

In all honesty, the shooting of Donald Trump was no joke because to kill him would have martyred him and I suspect there would have been civil riots if the worst had happened.  Though not sure Trump as President is better than bumbling Biden.  But we have gone through our own problems with the Labour surge, with Westminster back in the hands of the Unionists.  Or course it is, it’s London!  The centre of the universe, ok it has twice the population of Scotland, but to be honest, and having lived there, it has its good points, but it is a cauldron which could bubble up at any time.Read More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Well, like most of you I’ve had better election nights! But I’m old enough to have had many worse election nights too. But the most important thing is to learn from each result, good or bad. I am pretty sure that there has never been a proper debrief after 2014 which is a problem we cannot fix. I know of none being done after 2019 either which perhaps was a contributing factor to July 4. Like Johnson in England, it’s undeniable that we benefited from a huge rejection of Jeremy Corbyn and this perhaps has allowed people to believe that the result was due toRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

On Tuesday the new MPs from all parties started descending on Westminster. Scottish Labour had their group photo taken outside number 10 Downing Street. The railings had been bedecked with St George’s flag bunting. Perhaps it was there to support the England football team. This is, however, the Government of the UK. For once it should have been Union flag bunting. Never understand the confusion some folk have about which flag for which event. So, who has started the tally notebook on backtracking and non delivery? Jackie Bailey has started by wanting to privatise as many areas of our NHS as they possibly can. WonderRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

I’m writing this before the results are in and am faced with the difficult task of predicting the election and analysing what it means.  One thing is certain it’s not going to be the best election for the SNP but it’s not going to be any kind of catastrophe either. The party is polling in the 30s and is forecast to win a minimum of 15 seats. Many constituencies are on a knife edge and a lot will depend on local campaigns and turnout.  This is peak Labour after all, the highest their support is going to be. Scotland is always caught in the gravitationalRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

Yes, it’s that time again when we all join in the mayhem of a General Election.  Well, maybe not all of us.  There are those who choose not to vote, not to watch political programmes and who are as far away from the whole situation by just ignoring it all.  However, having spoken to a few of these non voters or NVs, on being pressed, they seem to have woken up to the fact, their views are not being considered because they cannot see anywhere on the TV or radio, these specific topics being discussed.  How, then you ask, do they know they are notRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

This absolutely cracks me up. What an absolute waste of money, time and fake promises. Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Labour and Scottish Conservatives and unionist party do not exist as stand alone parties. They are treated the way Scotland is by the UK Government, as a minor region. Alex Cole Hamilton made huge claims regarding social care and NHS. Areas where they could just pluck a figure out of the air, as the polling shows that their masters have no chance of coming close enough to have any influence on UK policy, and therefore have some influence on funding for Scotland. Douglas Ross has totallyRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

As anyone who knows me will testify, I am generally not a fan of glorifying anything to do with “Britishness”. I do however make an exception when it comes to remembering those who gave their lives defending freedom from fascism in the War. They had no choice whether to serve, their personal or political opinions were neither asked for nor heeded. They simply served that the idiots on the rabid right would not conquer, and that freedom of speech, movement and opinions would survive. The Americans often describe their system of government as an experiment in democracy and I think that’s as much as weRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

Starmer promises a ‘Great British Energy’ company headquartered in Aberdeen while Sunak wants more of our oil and gas to be extracted.  It’s a step forward for the UK political leaders to acknowledge Scotland’s role as an energy producer after decades of pretending our vast resources were worthless. The hypocrisy goes unremarked upon by the MSM, of course, since they’ve been largely complicit in the half century long deception.  Starmer and Sunak can make any number of pledges to Scottish voters but the only people with the power to make these effective are the English electorate. If they choose Sunak that’s who we’ll get andRead More →